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Mrs. Hoff and I have decided to give ourselves a new TV for Christmas. We have a few things to consider in making our choice. We are restricted to placing it along one wall (outside wall between 2 windows) in our living room. Our current entertainment center can handle nothing larger than a 26", I have about 40" between the windows if, I go with a wall mount and I want to keep this under 1K (the less the better). Sooooooooo, we are looking at 26"-32" units. We do have surround sound but, not anything special as you can tell from my lack of stereo upgrades in my CC. I didn't see any killer deals for "Black Friday" and was wondering about this one from Walmart. I haven't heard of the brand but, it seems to have gotten good reviews. Suggestions?

Thanks,

Reed and Mrs. Hoff

I came real close to buying one of the Visio LCD flat screens.
I actually went in to buy it and walked out with a Sanyo.
Walk to the side and look at the screen. I found two that were still nicely viewable from the side. Sanyo and Polaroid. The Visio "browned out. Next is to check for brightness. The Vision cranked all the way up was as bright as the Sanyo at 50%. That made the decision.

Polaroid was nice too , but had a larger case and was more expensive.
We bought a 42". It has been pretty good.
Some things to watch for: They demonstrate them using a high def connection. They will not be as crisp at home with out.
If you do not have a surround sound system, you will want to start looking. Many have saved the expense of good sound , counting on your already having your own sound system. the stock speakers may lack quality.
12" screen size for every 3" of distance. Are you going to be seated 9' from a 36" TV? Over that bigger may be better.

HenryJ wrote:...........Many have saved the expense of good sound , counting on your already having your own sound system. the stock speakers may lack quality.
12" screen size for every 3" of distance. Are you going to be seated 9' from a 36" TV? Over that bigger may be better.

We are looking at 10' viewing distance if, wall mounted. I do have surround sound as I have mentioned. 32" is a standard size now and anything larger will not work in our situation. I will look harder at Sanyos though. Thanks, Brule.

Ist question I would ask is what signal are you going to feed it? You will want a HD feed either from you local cable company,Dish Network or DirecTV to make the most of any HD flat panel screen. If you are feeding it Standard def programming be prepaired to be underwhelmed. I would look at DirecTv since with their new bird going live they have the most HD content of all providers I will switch to them once my Dish contract is up.
2nd with your current entertainment center you should look at exactly how wide the opening is and try to fit it as close as possible you will be changing from a 4:3 ratio set to a 16:9 set so it will be wider than it is tall. all of your SD programming will have vertical letterboxing making the picture seem smaller than your current set or you will have to either stretch or zoom to fill the screen.
3rd look at your viewing location see how much of an angle there is from one side of the room to the other check your tv choices to make sure there is no fall off within that range, some sets light is very uneven if you go just a little of the central axis iof the set.
4th most bargain lcd's and plasmas use 720p resolution where higher end sets can use full HD of 1080p most broadcast HD is 1080i so you will be lowering the resolution slightly on a 720p set.
5th Optimal viewing distance for HDTV is 2x the diagonal screen size so a 32" set optimal distance just shy of 6" anything more than that and you will loose some of the detail you are paying for.
Given all this the Vizio sets are the best selling sets in the country right now but they do have quality issues looking at online reviews and you will see many people have had difficulties with these sets dying or acting up. My personal recommendation for inexpensive sets would be in the Olevia line of sets good value decent reviews and nice looking sets here would be a recommendation.Olevia 32"

Glad that I held off this morning. Great information. I have Dish Network right now and I shouldn't be under any contract.

My mom and stepdad bought one of those. And I found the menu system to be very complicated to navigate. Based on that alone I did not like it, but maybe it would just take some getting used to.

I would have to say I like the Samsung LCD's I have a 26" and a 32" and really like them.

I also have a 42" Hitachi plasma and it has an awsome picture.

I find most manuals to be rather complex on these sets for the average user. That being said I am always up for the challenge of helping out anyone get there stuff working right for them. My system is more complex than most and I am confident I can help out with most problems that are encountered. Most people are happy with an initial setup so the set looks good to them in their viewing space and never need to play with the advanced setting much.
I am currently trying to recover a crashed hard drive from a co-workers home computer with ALL of his 20month old sons photos on it just to see if I can.
The big problem is there are really only a few sets smaller than 42" it would open a whole range of possibilities when you get to the larger sizes.

So tell us have you bought a new set yet?

Not yet I am looking at the Polaroid 42" 1080p Full HD LCD TV w/ Digital Tuner, TLX-04240B for $948 shipped.

Here's a link to AVS Forum if you want to see what other people are saying about this set looks like a reasonable mix of comments.
BTW over there I am vtnorseman.

04crewvt wrote:Here's a link to AVS Forum if you want to see what other people are saying about this set looks like a reasonable mix of comments.
BTW over there I am vtnorseman.

Oh just freakin' great, Bryan! Now I wanna just step back in time 30 yrs and enjoy B&W TV. None of the thread made any sense to me at all! WTF? Stuck pixels? People counting pixels using a ruler? Time for a beer and some ball playing with the pup

Oh Brave New World
It's not really all that bad what it boils down to is if you are very picky with your set this won't be as good as a more expensive set (NO DUH) and if you get it I would set it up and see if it looks good to your eyes and if it has a defect take it back. The stuck pixel problem happens to many LCD sets but it rarely is seen in a way that interferes with viewing, you might see it on a white scene if you are close to the set, so unless there are a bunch together they will never be seen in normal viewing. Remember many of the people on that forum spend as much for there electronic toys as we do on our trucks, and yes, I resemble that remark, why else would my living room be outfitted with movie theater seats and a 61" behemoth of a set who's list price was nearly $5k.
You probably remember there used to be TV repairmen for those old B&W sets that actually came to your house to tune and adjust them. They got better to the point where you could buy a set and forget it for 20 years till you popped for one with a remote. We are only in the beginning stages of the big screen revolution and for now it's much like the old days of TV where things are changing day to day. I knew perfectly well that the set I shelled out for last December would be technologically obsolete in a matter of months but picked the set I was willing to use for at least the next 5 years not unlike upgrading computers.

04crewvt wrote:................You probably remember there used to be TV repairmen for those old B&W sets that actually came to your house to tune and adjust them.............

I do but, we couldn't afford that. We just pulled all the tubes and hauled them down to the grocery or drug store and tested them ourselves with their testers. You found out which one was bad yourself and bought a replacement.

Wish I could find one of those fully stocked. I have my Grandparents 1946 Crosley Console Radio that needs a new set of tubes that will set set me back over $200.00 on E-Bay, it's a neat unit with AM FM Shortwave and 78rpm record players with a bunch of lacquer disks for it.

I'll keep looking at TVs. Prices are predicted to drop as Christmas nears.

f9k9 wrote:

04crewvt wrote:................You probably remember there used to be TV repairmen for those old B&W sets that actually came to your house to tune and adjust them.............

I do but, we couldn't afford that. We just pulled all the tubes and hauled them down to the grocery or drug store and tested them ourselves with their testers. You found out which one was bad yourself and bought a replacement.

Boy do I remember those days. The TV would start acting up and my dad would have me pull all the tubes and take em down to the drug store to test em all. I think I was like 12yo then. . After a while I kinda figured out what tube caused what problem and thought one day I would make house calls.

It just occurred to me that our younger cohorts might not realize what a vacuum tube is

ENIAC - 1943
ENIAC's physical size was massive compared to modern PC standards. It contained 17,468 vacuum tubes 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8.5 feet by 3 feet by 80 feet (2.6 m by 0.9 m by 26 m), took up 680 square feet (63 m²), and consumed 150 kW of power. Input was possible from an IBM card reader, while an IBM card punch was used for output. These cards could be used to produce printed output off ine using an IBM accounting machine, probably the IBM 405. From Wikipedia

Without the lowly tube that started it all we wouldn't be playing on computers at home that are more powerful than ALL the computer power at NASA in the 1960's
Also vacuum tubes still are used on almost every ballistic submarine in the world for VLF communication since they are not affected by EMP from a nuclear blast.

The following are all informed opinions Reed, but they are based on listening, reading, talking to others, and pure viewing experience. So take it for the 2 cents it is...

First, is the sun ever going to set on the opposite side of the house, and possibly shine on the screen? Because if it does, the only thing that will stand up to sunlight is the ole tube tv, or a plasma( maybe). DLP would be worthless.

Also, as 04crewvt said, watch for indirect viewing angles. dlp once again are the biggest offenders. Sounds like you are already narrowed down to wall mount plasma and lcd's.

another thing 04crewvt said is true about viewing distance. closer than 6ft buy an lcd, better natural detail. beyond 6ft, go with a plasma, it looks better and clear far away. also, most with average eyesight cant tell a difference in 1080p vs. 720p, so in my opinion dont waste your money on a 1080p capable screen if you arent a hardcore A/V enthusiast, like if you just watch the news and a few nascar races ever now and then. Also, at that distance, with a 32", reality is, you aren't gonna notice much at 10' away.

lastly, in my opinion, you get what you pay for. Pioneer Elite, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic in that order as far as quality goes. Rumor has it, Sony produces iternals for Panasonics...so Panasonic could be one of the affordable quality tv's, just like GMC vs. Chevy type of deal.

my first plasma was a 42" panasonic, and I loved it, never one single issue. my latest is a 50" samsung plasma( thank you ebay and PS3 ). Also a great performer, and its comfortable for everyone that watches it at 7', if that puts things in perspective.

lastly lcd technology is quickly surpassing plasma tech, so i would prolly go with an lcd at this point...

If I were you, I dunno what I would do. You could always do a projector and a remote operated screen. Go as big as you want, and put it up when you turn the tv off( i like that idea)! hope this helps!!!

purduecrew wrote:..............my first plasma was a 42" panasonic, and I loved it, never one single issue. my latest is a 50" samsung plasma( thank you ebay and PS3 ). Also a great performer, and its comfortable for everyone that watches it at 7', if that puts things in perspective.......

The sun is not a problem. In ground home with windows facing SW. I want to place it on or in front of that wall. Man, I just checked stuff out with a tape measure and I might be 8-9' away. I am not an AV purist and am currently watching a 10 yr old 27" Magnavox and I think it is just fine. A larger 720P might just be the ticket. I'm going to keep listening, researching for another week or two before I drop the hammer. We do like our NetFlix dvds when we have time together but, let's not go into the players just yet I do watch more than the news and not a real sports fan and think that numbers 8 and 24 possess limp wrists Thanks for the additional input.

haha I couldnt agree more on the limp wrist fact... I would prefer to go to Home Depot any day of the week

oh and the ebay thing, I sat outside of Best Buy for 3 days last year to score that new PS3, sold it on ebay that same friday for $3k( no typo) to some fool in NY with too much money...

BUT that brings up a good point. Get a nice quality, NORMAL dvd player. HDMI is all hype( i bought it, dont feel bad), just get one that plays a dvd religiously and use nice component cables. Sounds like 720p is in fact your ticket...

Also, avoid Blu-Ray. I have a feeling its only temporary. Word is, that the porn industry is what let VHS take command back in the 80's, because they wouldnt sell films on any other version. Well guess what, the porn industry apparently just settled on HD DVD's recently. I doubt taht Blu-Ray will be around due to being the odd duck...oh sh*t, you arent good with ducks are you?

f9k9 wrote:I do watch more than the news and not a real sports fan and think that numbers 8 and 24 possess limp wrists Thanks for the additional input.

Will never grow up to be a be a number 3.

If you are looking for 720p sets keep an eye out on your local Craigslist or classifieds. I bet there will be a lot of them coming up F/S soon as people ditch the ones they have now to buy the 1080p sets that are being hyped even though they won't have a XBox 360 or HD-DVD or Blue Ray player to get that input resolution anyway. You know that most of the salespeople and the box stores don't tell the customers they will need another $300-$1000 worth of equipment to get there bargain TV to have the picture it claims to deliver. As for a DVD Player if you buy one that is a progressive scan you will be good to go. The TV should upscale the video to the 720p easily and they will look much better than on an old tv. I just picked up a Phillips on Black Friday at BB for $50 for my bedroom now I just have to get a 27-32 inch LCD to replace my 19" old school tv for up there.

The DVD player is already covered. I have a 5 or 6 disc home surround sound system that I bought a couple years ago. Saving Private Ryan made that a must.

ya know, i was thinkin of sellin my 50'' plasma....i think u should just make it fit

I have learned enough to stay away from plasma with my lifestyle. When I go to bed, all I do is mute the system. It stays on 24/7/365 along with our desktops

I just bought myself a 42" Panasonic plasma for Christmas. It was rated "Best Buy" on Comsumer Report, and it was onsale on Black Friday for about $750 (it listed for $1200). And Panasonic had the best rating for repairs also. I just couldn't pass it up, even though I stood in line for 2 1/2 hours.

Well, it was coming down to the wire to get one here by Xmas so, I pulled the trigger on a Sony 32" Bravia M-Series LCD HDTV with Digital Tuner, KDL32ML130. Mrs. Hoff made it easy by telling me that we will revisit the issue next year and that the 32" will be delegated to our bedroom next Xmas.

Enjoy!!!

That should be nice!

rickscrewcab wrote:Enjoy!!!

HenryJ wrote:That should be nice!

Thank you both for not commenting on my "coward's" way out of a jam

Other than a personal bias against Sony products (having had a few duds) I think thats a good place to start. once you get her hooked on some HD programming she will want the bigger set. Waiting another year to go extreme will be easier on your wallet as well.
Enjoy

I would never comment on your choice of TV's, or who wears the pants in the family...lol.
And as far as personal bias, being a good Union member , I have one against Walmart...but that's for another time and forum.

Have a Great Holiday Season!

Little John/Brian/04CrewVT, have another slight problem. Not only did my regular TV die when I attempted to compare screens but, the pioneer home entertainment center decided to lose it's DVD playing ability. From what I am reading BlueRay and HD DVD is much like the old VHS/Beta contest. I bought a cheap DVD SONY player to hold me over until the war is over. I am not the fanatic you are but, do you have any recommendations until the contest is settled?

The Playstation3 is supposed to play Blu-Ray. Friends say that it is the best bang for the buck in a player right now.
You get the gaming console, wi-fi compatibility and memory card inputs in the deal too.

HenryJ wrote:The Playstation3 is supposed to play Blu-Ray. Friends say that it is the best bang for the buck in a player right now..........

Ok, you, of all people, should know what will happen when I make the final decision. right?

Quick f9k9 go south to replinish your stock of water fowl.

Reed, I should buy stock in the HD system? You will indeed make sure Blu-ray, beta and the Edsel all share a place in the museum!

Right now Blue-ray does seem to be tipping the balance of power, as of May Warner will be releasing all there titles only in Blue-Ray format this is alongside Disney Sony of course as well as 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lionsgate. for about 70% of the market. The couple of hold outs have current contracts for HD-DVD for the next 18 month including Dreamworks, Paramount and Universal. Right now the game consoles are a good way to go for either format. Or for about $300 you can get a combo drive for your computer that will play both.

rlrnr53 wrote:Quick f9k9 go south to replinish your stock of water fowl.

Have got some spoiled ducks within 1/2 mile (as a duck flys) in a state park that I have to go through each day.

HenryJ wrote:...........................Friends say that it is the best bang for the buck in a player right now...........

Did the same friends predict VHS over Beta?

I am gonna sit this one out. I can still get surround sound and a touch of good audio with the system.

The Sony will go in the bedroom this Dec. and the format war should be over by then.

Reed I just got back in from a C.E.R.T. Training day and have seen your most current drowning duck. Hay you gotten it figured out yet? Sounds like you may need to change some settings on it. PM or GMAIL me with details including the model numbers of your system and I will see what I can do.

Little John eh? That's one I haven't had yet My C.E.R.T gang is getting to know me as MONGO since one of my friends who uses that name for me has been on the team for 3 years or so and he got me into it when I moved into this area.